Suzuki is done

John250

John250

PR Founding Father
The 450 shootouts are being done. Hell they didn't even include the Suzuki. They said it was because there were none in the country. They are not changed, use a 2020 to compare it to the rest. But they know where it is going to finish.

Unless they do something and put a new bike out there, they are going to slowly fade away.
 
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John w sanderbeck said:
I have been disappointed by Suzuki since 2001, they are always behind. I believe suzuki is also in dire straits financially. I dont blame mxa and others for not testing.
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There have been a few times there were no new models for a particular year; 1977 Honda 250 Elsinore not made, also 1977 Kawasaki KX250 Not available, then half way through the season complete new models, you never know.
 
Of course they will have a strong model mid-2021.
Bringing back the Full Floater rear suspension with graphics and color theme from 1992.

You all know you would buy one.
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Suzuki will get bought by someone.......dont know who. Probably an industry outsider that will got to Euro Gp and catch the racing bug and think its cool, cool enough to buy a struggling OEM.
 
I think there is a place in the market for sure, the brand name is huge. For the last 5 years, motocrossers have still bought them, they were a value, still a decent bike (better bike than 99% of us are riders), but I think even those die hards are fading now. They are saying why do I want to buy a bike with zero changes in 10 years? They are switching. Talking to Kreps, he ravs about the Husky coming off the Suzuki.

I just think for them to stay alive, they have got to make some major changes to get in the game. Their 250s dont even really exist in the local scene at all hardly.
 
I had a rmz 450 for a short time and hated it....Suzuki would have sold more 2 strokes if they would have kept making them.. i had tons of RMs back in the day and they where great bikes... braaaaap..
 
I'm disappointed by them as well, but I certainly wouldn't go all the way back to 2001. They were really on top with the 2004-2006 RM 250 2 strokes and then 2005/2006 RMZ450 with RC racing for them and then that continued with Dungey. The 2006/7/8 RM250 is still one of the best 250 2 strokes.

The RMZ450 (and even RMZ250) were rated near the top around 2011 and 2012. I loved my 2011 RMZ450 and even the RMZ250 was winning shootouts back then.

Once they let Decoster leave and go to KTM was really the turning point and they seemed to start pulling back a little.

I think the Japanese manufactures as a whole (except Yam) really all had big setbacks when they were messing around with the KYB and Showa SFF (single spring) forks and then air forks. It's like a whole generation of red/green/yellow bikes that people wanted to avoid because of the forks.

I think Suzuki is just looking at MX and offroad more from a $$ and business standpoint now and are satisfied to just release bikes at a discounted price. I know the MSRP is near the same as the other brands, but anyone paying MSRP for a Suzuki is just getting swindled as there are always great deals out there on new ones.

Let's all be honest for a minute here. KTM had that huge cash infusion from Peirer and Bajaj around 10-15 years ago. That's when they pursued Decoster and really changed the bike, built out the race team with top riders, and started building their empire and really taking over off-road motorcycling. If that never happened, we all still might be kick starting our MX bikes, pulling our cable clutches, and making fun of guys like Rocket Robin for riding "woods bikes" with no suspension linkage.

But that didn't happen, and Pierer Mobility/Bajaj Auto (commonly known to us as "KTM") really did take over, force the Japanese to take notice and start changing their bikes to compete, and honestly have built some really good bikes!

Suzuki....I don't think they are going anywhere. They are still a huge company worldwide and eventually they will put some focus back into dirt bikes. At least for one year, then let them sit unchanged for another 5 years haha.
 
Seems like the MX bucks were sent JGR way the last couple years, JGR has the new RMZ models, but will Suzuki run with the new ideas.
 
I’d agre le that thing was f*****g cool. Back when ktm chassis were garbage. I just remember how well it worked. I figured a Frankenbike like they wouldn’t handle for s**t. I just remember it turning great and had a lot of power. Hell what year was that ?
 
GeorgiePorgie said:
I’d agre le that thing was f*****g cool. Back when ktm chassis were garbage. I just remember how well it worked. I figured a Frankenbike like they wouldn’t handle for s**t. I just remember it turning great and had a lot of power. Hell what year was that ?
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Suzuki was a 2010 chassis and the engine was out of a 2004 KTM 200SX
jfalat said:
Wasn’t that the 144 engine out of the ktm you bought from me.
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No that was a different project bike
 
The RMZ 450 completely made me a better rider. Still my favorite bike, but also was the end...o_O KTM's of that time-period were still trying to make the linkageless suspension work. My 2001 KTM250SX still shows up in my dreams with a sword trying to kill me!

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Suzuki is not done. Suzuki is not going anywhere. Realistically there is nothing wrong with their bike. Other than electric start there isn’t anything new that bike needs. It’s the perfect entry level bike or the perfect weekend warrior bike. For the cost of everyone’s precious KTM or Honda I could buy 2 Suzuki’s and have just as much fun.

Everyonre is quick to say that nobody is buying their products but Suzuki has increased sales on their motorcycles and ATVs by double digits. It’s hard to argue that they need to come out with new stuff when the basic design and format is working. Every year they don’t have to update the bike is another year of money saved and passing that value to customers.
If there is something specific the bike is missing that makes it less of a machine then I bet they would fix it. But other than electric start, which everyone hated 5 years ago, there isn’t anything they need to change.
We in the United States aren’t their main customer anyway.
 

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